


Once Upon A Time

by scoresandstars



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 02:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5522135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scoresandstars/pseuds/scoresandstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How did Daisy and Jemma meet? Featuring castles, princesses, and dragons, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon A Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JackEPeace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackEPeace/gifts).



> This is my Skimmons Secret Santa fic for Pizza-is-my business! I hope you like it, happy holidays!!

A long time ago, in the age of dragons, lived a King and Queen who loved their daughter.

  
The Princess was smart, strong, and as kind as she was beautiful. She enjoyed verbally jousting with her father’s advisors and reading. Her goal was to read every book in the royal library.

  
The King and Queen grew concerned as the years passed and their daughter furthered her intelligence. It worried them that when the time came for their daughter to be wed, she would be forced to marry someone who, when compared to her, would be viewed as a simpleton.

  
So, on her sixteenth birthday, the King and Queen sent their daughter to live in the highest tower in the very corner of the castle. They set a great many obstacles between the main road of the kingdom and the Princess’ window.

The fiercest of these was a dragon.

  
Then they sent word across the land, daring far-off Princes, knights and noblemen to come best their obstacle course that required both strength of body and mind to overcome.

For whoever traversed the obstacles first won their daughter’s hand.

  
One after another, men poured in from around the kingdom. And one by one, they failed to surpass the barriers. The King and Queen began to despair, fearing their daughter would be forever alone.

 

~ Three Years Later ~

 

Princess Jemma looked up at the sound of the kitchen door slamming open against the wall to see her nurse sprinting in at a faster than normal pace.

  
“Princess! A rider finally approaches, and he’s already gotten past the pit of snakes!” She turned and bellowed to the other servants, “Places, everyone!”

  
Jemma shoved the rest of the roll she was eating into her mouth, patted nurse May on the shoulder affectionately, and walked swiftly down the hallway. Once she reached her tower, she gathered her many skirts in her hands and took the stairs two steps at a time.

  
She let down her skirts with a huff and a deep breath. She smiled at the seasoned knight standing guard at the top of the tower and took her place in the tower window, leaning carelessly on the windowsill and adopting an utterly bored expression.

  
The flapping of wings alerted her to the dragon’s presence.

  
“Good morning, George!” she called.

  
“Good morning, Jemma!” the dragon replied.

  
George finished getting into place by wrapping his scarlet tail around the tower, leaning down so he appeared ready to take flight at a moment’s notice. His red scales glittered in the sun like fist-sized rubies.

  
“George!” Jemma said, smiling. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  
“Of course not, Princess! Dragons don’t forget.” He winked one scaly eyelid down at her, puffed up his chest and let out a great roar.

  
“WHO GOES THERE?” he projected so that the man below them would hear.

  
“It is I, Sir Grant the Gutsy from Malken, oh mighty dragon!”

  
“I look forward to eating you when you fail, Grant the Gutsy!”

  
Grant the Gutsy certainly didn’t appear to be very gutsy after that. Both of Grant’s arms flung outward in an attempt at balance as he crossed over the Bridge of Misery, knees wobbling mightily.

  
“That was a very terrifying threat.” Jemma said thoughtfully.

  
“It was, wasn’t it?” George preened.

  
Grant had nearly completed the task when his concentration veered from his feet to the land beyond the bridge, and the sign planted there.

  
‘CAUTION’, it read, ‘JUMP OVER LAST TWO STEPS.’

  
But Grant hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, so he didn’t see this until it was too late. He fell through the last step into the river of lava below.

  
“Well, there goes another one.” Jemma commented, frowning.

  
“And he seemed like a good one, too.” George said forlornly.

  
The knight stationed at the door of Jemma’s room hobbled over to put a consoling arm around the Royal.

  
“Don’t you worry, Princess,” the knight said, eyes twinkling with kindness, “There’s someone out there for you.”

  
“Thanks, Sir Coulson,” Jemma sniffed, “I only hope this ‘someone for me’ hurries up, it’s rather boring keeping this ruse up.”

  
She shook herself, as if to get rid of the negative emotions creeping in to her heart.

  
“Tell Mother and Father we’re going to Weatherford, we need a new riddle book.” Jemma said shortly.

  
The knight nodded his consent and watched as Jemma and George took off in the direction of their neighboring village.

 

  
Only six months into the Princess’ stay in the tower, she had read every book in the royal library and had become so bored that she decided to befriend the dragon guarding her, George.

After a month of valiant effort of telling every joke out of the two joke books in the palace's possession, the dragon caved and the pair became best friends. To amuse themselves, they answered riddles and told each other jokes from the newest joke book, purchased out of fear by the King and Queen.

Dismayed that their daughter had somehow made a dragon less frightening, the King and Queen freed Jemma from the tower, both out of guilt and out of fear of what scheme she could hatch next. She was now allowed to come and go as she pleased. Her only duty was to be in the tower whenever a suitor came to call, and act as if she’d been there the whole time.

  
On her first real foray into the village she met a young girl named Skye.

Jemma thought the girl's name was very appropriate because Skye had a way about her that made Jemma feel like she could fly.

  
The girls were fast friends, until one day, on what was to be their third meeting, Jemma showed up to their spot and Skye wasn't there.

  
She waited for hours, and when it finally became dark, flew home with a heavy heart.

  
On her next visit, one of the store owners told her that Skye had left in the middle of the night and no one had seen her since.

  
Jemma made few visits to the village after that day, going back only when she needed essentials.

  
She never saw Skye again.

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
A month had passed before the next suitor came. This time, Jemma was already in place when she spotted him.

“And then the eggplant said- Why, George, do you see that?”

  
The dragon furrowed its brow, and after a few moments said “I don’t get it.”

  
“No, not the joke,” Jemma laughed, “there’s someone over there!”

  
George swiveled his head to follow the line of Jemma’s outstretched finger toward the newcomer.

The knight had already completed the first challenge.

  
“I say, he’s certainly not wasting any time! Look at the scrawny fellow go!”

  
The knight clambered across the bridge, making a wide jump over the last two steps.

  
“It’s been a while since anyone has gotten past the bridge!” George said, whipping his tail back and forth.

  
The Princess leaned forward eagerly, her auburn hair cascading out the tower window, enthralled in the knight’s progress.

  
The knight had roped his way across the Trench of Crocodiles and come to the base of the tower before twenty minutes were up.

  
“Whoo!” Jemma cheered, “You’re almost there, Sir Knight! No one’s ever gotten this far before!”

  
Then, from her perch forty feet above the ground, Jemma saw a glint of gold that surrounded the knight’s helmet.

  
“That’s not a knight,” she proclaimed, “it’s a Prince!”

  
She quickly turned, calling out “Coulson, you’d better go alert my parents that we’re about to have company.”

  
Still at the foot of the tower, the Prince began removing his metal gloves, boots, and heavy cape, so that all he stood in was his protective chainmail shirt and helmet.

  
“Very smart, that’s much easier to climb in!” George called over the wind, nodding his head sagely.

  
The Prince reached for the first crack in the tower and began pulling himself upward.

  
It was a tedious, strenuous work, but the Prince did not falter. He steadily put hand over hand, climbing the vast length swiftly. He was bravely ignoring both the distance from the ground and George’s mighty bellows, instead only looking upwards towards Jemma.

  
When the Prince was five feet away from the tower window, George began crawling his way towards the Royal, who had frozen completely still.

  
“Sir dragon,” the Prince began, his voice echoing in his helmet, “I do not wish to harm you. May I pass?”

  
“Well, challenger,” George hissed, “that depends how adept you are at solving riddles.”

  
The Prince, in an impressive show of strength, swung one arm away from the wall to flip the visor up on his helmet to view George clearly.

  
“Have at it, Sir Dragon!”

  
George cleared his throat and began:

“As I was going to St. Ives,  
I met a man with seven wives,  
Each wife had seven sacks,  
Each sack had seven cats,  
Each cat had seven kits.  
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,  
How many were going to St. Ives?”

  
The Prince lowered his head from the dragon, resting it against the tower stone as he thought.

  
Jemma raised an eyebrow towards George.

  
The Prince’s willowy arms began to shake after three minutes of holding himself in place. Then, he finally looked up.

  
“One.” He answered, less muffled than before. “One person was going to St. Ives.”

  
George raised his great head and bellowed in triumph, blasting fire thirty feet into the blue sky.

  
“You may pass, human.” George said, retreating back up the tower.

  
"I like this one!" He whispered to Jemma as his head passed the window.

The Prince relaxed, clearly relieved, and began his task once more.

  
Two handholds were all the Prince had left to traverse, which meant he was close enough that Jemma could hear his chainmail jingle as it hit the stone.

But when he reached for the penultimate gap in the tower wall, one of his feet slipped, and he let out a shocked yelp as he began to fall.

  
Surging forward, Jemma grabbed the Prince’s flailing arm and pulled him up with all her strength, but it was to little avail.

  
“A little help, George!” She cried out, hands slipping on the sweaty, tanned skin.

  
George stretched out his great garnet wings and jumped, circling the tower so he could lift the Prince high enough with his head that Jemma was able to pull him through the window.

  
They fell awkwardly, the Prince landing on top of Jemma in a heap on the floor.

A rumble of laughter of laughter began in the Prince’s chest and Jemma smiled, chuckling as well.

  
“That was hands-down the most interesting first date I’ve ever been on.” The Prince said cheekily.

  
Jemma let out a delighted, full-bodied laugh.

  
The Prince reached for the visor that had fallen shut during the scuffle and flicked it open again.

  
Jemma gasped as the Prince’s warm amber eyes blinked down at her, watching as they softened around the edges with a smile.

  
The Royal pair helped each other stand, both a little shaky still.

  
“Can I?” Jemma asked, gesturing to the Prince’s helmet. She couldn’t contain her curiosity as to what her future spouse looked like.

  
The Prince nodded, seemingly too nervous to speak. Jemma carefully unbuckled the Prince’s helmet and lifted it over his head.

  
The first thing she noticed was the massive amount of chestnut brown hair that fell out of his helmet, but after clearing it from his face, she realized.

  
This wasn’t a prince at all.

  
“Hi.” The girl said, all shy smiles and wringing hands. “My name is Princess Daisy.”

  
Jemma stood gaping at the woman in front of her until George cleared his throat loudly from where he was watching them through the window.

Jemma came back to her senses.

  
“I- um. Well then. Ok, hi.” She said, the grin slowly coming back to her face. “So you’re to be the one smart enough for me? You were able to get past all of the tasks, and no one has been able to do that before.”

  
The brunette Princess nodded, shuffling from one foot to the other.

  
"Well I believe you on that account- I've never met someone who thinks the way you do. You saw a problem and immediately knew the way out of it. And, well." Jemma clears her throat and blushes. "Your biceps are quite impressive."

  
Daisy laughs, loud and merry. Affection swirls in Jemma's chest.

  
"Why'd you come here, anyway? What made you want to marry a total stranger?" Jemma asks, suddenly unsure.

  
"Well Jemma, they say when you are meant to be with someone, you know. I've known it from the moment I met you." Daisy finishes confidently.

  
"But... We've only just met?" Jemma says, eyes flitting around, trying to remember if she had ever seen the woman before.

  
"Well. My name wasn't always Daisy, Jemma. It used to be-"

  
"Skye!" Jemma exclaimed in realization, pulling the girl to her in a sudden hug. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

  
"Yeah, I know. My father plucked me out of the hole I was living in and told me I was a Princess. Can you believe it? A princess. I never would have guessed. I ascend to the throne in two weeks, but I need a spouse to do that. I knew you were the only one I wanted, Jemma. So here I am, to win your hand! I wanted to prove myself worthy of you."

  
"Oh Daisy. You didn't have to do all this for me. I would have accepted you anyway, because of who you are."

  
"Really?" Daisy asked, eyes glistening with happy tears.

  
"Really." Jemma affirmed, bringing the girl in for a long-overdue kiss.

  
“Alright, Daisy,” Jemma nodded at her companion once they parted, breaking out into a toothy grin, “Let’s go see my parents.”

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
“And that, son, is how I met your mom.”

  
“AWESOOOOOME!” Ben proclaimed from his enthralled, upright position, Buzz Lightyear sheets in a forgotten pile around him.

  
“You had a DRAGON named GEORGE!!???” Ben gasped, his small hands slapping his face in excitement.

  
He paused as a new possibility came to him, and whispered, “Can- can  _I_ have a dragon?”

  
Jemma beamed at him, then pretended to contemplate the thought.

  
“We’ll have to ask your-“

  
“MOOOOOOOM!”

 

“NO WAY, DUDE.”

  
Grumbling, Ben got under his covers, very offended that he couldn’t keep a dragon in their two-bedroom home.

  
Rounding the corner, Daisy was drying her hands with a towel and already rolling her eyes playfully.

  
"Personally I think my story last night was pretty epic, about us meeting because Steve introduced us." Daisy said, winking cheerfully.

  
"I still can't believe you guys know Captain America." Ben said wistfully, staring at his lap like the whole world was a little overwhelming for him at the moment.

  
“Okay, goof balls, time for bed.” Daisy strode forward and stooped low, kissing Ben on the forehead softly. "Hope you're this excited about your presents tomorrow, munchkin, but I will have NO problems opening them for you if you're not."

  
"MOOOooooOooOm." Ben groans, and Daisy cackles.

  
"Oh, Daisy." Jemma giggled, rolling her eyes as she hip checks her wife. She's rewarded with a quick kiss, which their five year old responds to with an emphatic " _ew_."

  
“Night, baby.” Jemma said, still smiling, and plants a kiss on her son's cheek.

  
“Night Moms!” Ben said, eyes drooping closed contentedly. He snuggled closer to his teddy bear as his parents shut off his bedroom light, and closed the door.

  
“Best story ever.” He whispered to his teddy bear, George.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked it!


End file.
